Saturday, January 22, 2005

In Praise of: Arthur Chrenkoff

Yesterday, I wrote about the necessity of choosing sides in this critical time as the Iraqi election approaches. I sent my post to a blogger whose work I greatly admire, Arthur Chrenkoff, and he was kind enough to link to it. This is not the first time he has linked to one of my posts, and I'm grateful to him, and to all the bloggers who so generously steer their readership to newer blogs with smaller audiences. Chrenkoff's blog has been particularly generous, as regular readers know. Arthur's news roundups are marvels to behold, full of links to great pieces that deserve the wider audience that Arthur brings to them.

I didn't dedicate this post to Mr. Chrenkoff just for his generosity, as wonderful as that is. Arthur Chrenkoff is not just any blogger; he is a man, who, by virtue of his 'Good News From Iraq' and 'Good News from Afghanistan' pieces that appear regularly on the very influential OpinionJournal website of the Wall Street Journal, has been critical to maintaining a truly balanced look at the work America and its allies are doing in the War Against Terror. Chrenkoff is not content to let his readers view our struggles through the pessimistic eyes of the establishment media; instead, he insists that we realize that amidst the violence, chaos, and tragedy, there is hope, liberty, and the conviction that the future will be brighter.

Americans, and for that matter, most people everywhere, are optimists by nature. Reagan knew that, Bush knows it, and the Democratic Party will have to learn it some day, if they hope to ever win another national election. The stories of the beheadings, the suicide bombings, and the other brutal tactics of the terrorists are surely newsworthy; so are the newfound freedoms of the Afghani women, the excitement of Iraqis over the impending chance to cast their vote freely, and the small, daily victories won by the coalition in the difficult, but far from impossible, fight against tyranny. Thank Arthur for reminding us of this in the best way I know of - by supporting our troops and the people of Iraq and Afghanistan is they try to emerge into the twenty-first century from the long darkness of authoritarian rule. While you're at it, visit Chrenkoff's blog regularly; I'm quite sure you'll find it well worth your time.

UPDATE 08/05/05 6:16 p.m. central: Thanks to the lovely Mary Katherine Ham for the link, on the sad occasion of Arthur's impending (temporary?) retirement from blogging...thanks, Mr. Chrenkoff, for being a voice of reason and sanity in these trying times...